


Sweat Like You Mean It

by machiia



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Developing Friendships, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Gym, Humor, Kissing, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rated for the innuendos, exercise, working out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-10-18 13:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20640080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/machiia/pseuds/machiia
Summary: Being forced to exercise? Practicing horrible exercise safety for the sake of bulking up quickly? Sweating for the sake of sweating? Being healthy? That’s not what some of them signed up for. Sometimes being sweaty can make people do stupid things.Various Danganronpa characters doing various activities that qualify as exercise. Some need their significant other as motivation, some need the power of friendship, and others, well, you’ll have to find out.Requests are welcomed!





	1. Himiko: Leg Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was fully inspired by me going to the gym and I was NOT having a great time, so I thought who else would have a miserable time? Our dear Himiko. With a little help from Maki, Kaede, and Tenko (and maybe some others), Himiko goes to the gym.

Tenko has been trying to get Himiko to go to the gym for what feels like ages, but she knew how to channel her magic into cloaking her presence whenever the girl came by. 

You see, mindless running was never Himiko's thing. Mindless exercise, purposeful exercise, any-type of exercise wasn't her type of exercise. How Tenko and Maki did it every day was beyond her. Leaving her room already felt like a chore, and Tenko wants her to self inflict pain via a treadmill? No thanks. 

“...and one, two, three! Maaaagic!” Her own voice echoes back at her from the staticy laptop speakers. She blinks at the YouTube video that Kaede had emailed her; it's an old clip from one of her magic shows. Kaede overlayed the whole video with a dreamy piano piece that tied it all together, then she reuploaded it under Himiko’s account. 

Kaede. What a saint. She knows it would take a week before Himiko even glances at the email, much less reupload the whole video to her channel. There  **are ** benefits to sharing your password with people, Himiko smiles to herself when she snuggles herself deeper into her blanket burrito.

“Hey Alexa,” she waits for the familiar sound that signified that her Google assistant was listening. “Remind me to thank Kaede after my alarm. Set an alarm for an hour, I need a nap.” 

“Okay  _ Magical Girl Himiko _ , I set an alarm an hour from now and a reminder to thank  _ Kaede _ . Is there anything else?” Her monotone British accent crackles through the crusty speakers. Maybe Himiko should ask Miu or Keebo to clean her laptop, she’s pretty sure that there are chip crumbs that landed somewhere in there. Nyehh, that’s a problem to think about afterwards. 

“That’s all,” she shuts the laptop and pushes it to the end of the bed before she pulls her beanie down over her eyes, rolls over, and knocks out. 

+++

“I swear, she hasn’t moved from this position in three days.” Maki grunts when she enters the room with Tenko in tow. “Every time I’ve entered the room, she’s rolled up in that pumpkin blanket, hugging her filthy laptop. The only thing that’s changed is that there are more crumbs on the bed than before.” 

“My Himiko is so cute.” Tenko either misses or completely ignores the accusation behind Maki’s tone. Tenko tiptoes towards Himiko’s side of the room and admires the sleeping girl. She almost reaches out and pinches her chubby, drool-streaked cheek when Maki calls her name, she stops in her tracks.

“Yeah, I should let my Himiko sleep.” She ghosts her hand over her girlfriend’s face as if in caress. 

“She needs to clean the room.” Maki glares pointedly at an empty chip bag hidden and long forgotten underneath Himiko’s bed. “You should talk to her. Every time I threaten her, she goes under her blanket and doesn't listen to me.”

“Because she knows,” Tenko positions herself into a battle stance, and as slow as a degenerate male thinks (painstakingly slow), she arcs her leg into a kick that would land on Maki’s hip, but once it catches on the edge of her clothing, she drops it and smirks. “I’ll give you a big can of whoop-ass.” 

“Right… which is why I need you to tell her to clean her side of the room.” She pushes aside a sticky candy wrapper and shoots Tenko a look that screams  _ don’t you fucking dare call this mess cute. _

“You said you didn’t mind as long as everything stayed on her side.” Tenko snatches up the sticky wrapper and drops it onto Himiko’s side instead. Wow, if it weren’t for her losing to Tenko ten minutes prior, she would’ve thrown herself at the girl with rage. 

“Do you want to die? I know what I said, but it’s getting so gross. It looks like that Panta brat has been living here instead.” 

“Eh.” She’s sporting her disgusted face again. 

“She’s worse than him, Shuichi actually makes him clean up.” 

“Don’t compare my angel to  _ that _ .” 

“You don’t want her modeling after their habits, do you?” 

When Tenko drops to the floor to collect all the wrappers, her face is still twisted in that typical disgusted condescending manner. Maki tries to stop her, but then again, it’s not like Himiko will clean it up anytime soon, so Maki attempts to feign like she’s stopping her friend with, “Tenko, no don’t do that, you’re doing all the work for Himiko.” It comes out sounding like that meme that Kaito has been sending her lately, she’s just missing the awkward ha-ha at the end. 

Tenko mutters angrily the entire time, something about gross boys, and in a matter of a few short minutes, Himiko’s side is clean and Maki doesn’t feel like they’re about to get invaded by cockroaches any time soon. 

“That’s definitely not what I meant, but thanks.” Maki shakes her head, thankful that she’s able to see the floor for once. “You missed the point by a mile, but again, thanks.” 

“You were complaining about the mess, and I fixed it. What were you trying to get at instead?” Tenko crosses her arms. 

“I think she needs to try and take better care of herself, living space included.” 

“I tried bringing her to the gym, but then she activates a spell to hide herself, and you know… I leave afterwards.” Tenko’s face tints a light shade of pink. 

Don’t roll your eyes, don’t roll your eyes. Maki felt the bruises burn over her arms from their Neo-Aikido session. Those won’t heal for another week, she definitely didn’t need to collect more. With a great amount of willpower, Maki keeps herself from rolling her eyes and just blinks absently at her companion. 

“You stared at Sakura Ogami and Aoi Asahina the whole time they were in the gym today,” Tenko’s face grows a deeper shade of red and her mouth begins twisting in protest, but Maki continues, “and don’t pretend you weren’t because I wouldn’t have been able to flip you that many times if you  _ were _ paying attention. I know you want her to go with you.” 

“Of course, how could I not admire the Ultimate Couple, their lesbian energy is unmatched.” She visibly shakes from the enthusiasm, but it abruptly stops when she processes the last part of Maki’s statement. “But I’m powerless against Himiko’s magic.” 

“Think of it as a challenge.” 

“Challenging her magic is beyond the limits of my Neo-Aikido.” Blink. Blink. 

Maki can be blunt, can be rude, but she never prided herself on being cruel, but if hanging around Tenko taught her anything, sometimes being cruel got the job done. So she mulls over the idea for a moment before she hurts Tenko’s feelings a little. 

“Tenko, she hasn’t really left the room in three days.” 

“Sometimes witches have to go into hibernation periods to retain their magic, like bears.” 

“When did Rantaro go on his study abroad trip?” 

“Monday... which is about three days ago. Why?” Tenko does the hideous thing with her face again. “Are you trying to tell me that MY Himiko would send herself into hibernation for some degenerate male’s absence? The  _ nerve  _ -” 

“I ask because he didn’t go alone.” She pauses, waiting for the dials to turn in Tenko’s head. “Korekiyo and Angie also went for the week long trip, right?” 

Tenko blanches and doesn’t reply.

“Do you think if Angie asked Himiko to walk on a treadmill with her or to do an Atua-related healthy diet that she might do it?” 

Maki feels like she’s kicking a wounded puppy when Tenko steals a glance at Himiko’s sleeping figure, mouth pulled into a pout. She whispers. “Tenko doesn’t really like that idea.” 

“She would complain but she would do it because that’s her best friend, yet you’re her girlfriend and she finds ways to avoid doing things. Maybe you should stop being so lenient with her, really. Push her to do something like Angie does.” She catches how harsh she sounds and tries to sound apologetic when she says, “Just something to think about.” 

“Tenko will… see you in class tomorrow, no gym tomorrow.” She picks up her duffle bag that she left near Himiko’s desk, bows slightly to her friend and another deeper bow to her sleeping girlfriend, then she scurries out. Maki swears she could see hints of moisture collecting in Tenko’s eyes.

Maki plays with her hair a little and bites her lip. She doesn’t get involved in the affairs of her friends because it always feels like she ends up being the bad guy - bearer of bad news. She almost wishes she could go back to being a friendless loner. Her eyes trail to the photo she has of Kaito, Kaede, and Shuichi, and she second guesses that previous thought. Maybe. 

+==+

**Ass is a Sin: ** I think I’m a bad person.

**Piano Reeves: ** ?

**Ass is a Sin** : I think I did something dumb. And mean. 

**Piano Reeves** : trust me, i know

**Piano Reeves:** witnessing it now

**Ass is a Sin** : Wow. You’re not supposed to agree with me. you’re supposed to be optimistic... like Kaito. 

**Piano Reeves** : boo hoo. i only have so much to go around

**Piano Reeves** : i’ve never seen her cry. HeLP i don’t think i can do damage control all by myself

**Piano Reeves** : respond. Pls 

**Ass is a Sin** : Need my dose of optimism first so I don’t feel terrible. 

**Piano Reeves** : that (D)ose

**Ass is a Sin** : Die. 

**Piano Reeves** : :) thanks i think Tenko will take care of that for you

==

“Stop it,” Kaede pleads. “You're not thinking clearly.”

“I’m thinking perfectly clear.” Tenko gurgles out around all the jello in her mouth.

“Crying and eating your weight in desserts is not going to help you one bit.” 

“Helps a little.” Tenko sniffles as she throws the empty jello cup into the trashcan to join the others. She crawls over to the mini fridge, but Kaede blocks her pursuit and Tenko’s staring at Kaede’s musical note encrusted socks. She lies completely flat, stretching herself just past Kaede’s legs in a very nonchalant manner that brings her closer to the fridge, and she turns over on her back. 

“You know she just said that so you would actually do something.” Kaede sits down so she isn’t towering over her. They stay silent for some time, and Tenko feels a little more at peace with doing nothing. 

“I see why Himiko likes doing this.” Tenko flicks her wrist to crack the fridge some and then she pulls out a pudding cup before Kaede can catch her. 

“Come on, cut it out.” Kaede manages to pull the spoon from her hand, but Tenko is a savage and doesn’t let not having a spoon stop her from enjoying her pudding. She slurps it out, much to Kaede’s blatant disapproval. “I can’t have two of you guys.” 

“If only.” 

“Not uh, we don’t need a second Himiko when the first one hasn’t even thanked me for editing her magic video.” This catches Tenko’s attention, she must’ve missed the notification on her phone about the video that got uploaded. One look at her puzzled look is all she needs to pull up the video on her phone.

Tenko makes a noise in her throat, one of realization. “This is an old routine from two years ago, yeah?” It’s a rhetorical question, she knows all of the routines because Himiko explained how her routines changed based on her phases. Tenko snorts a little because she catches the Fall Out Boy bracelet on her arm. Yep, this was two years ago because that was her first concert and she wouldn’t remove it even to shower. 

“She used to be so much faster.” Tenko’s mouth moves unprompted; she didn’t realize she was focusing on those types of details until now. It took her maybe twice as long to do a performance like this. 

“Out of practice?” 

“My Himiko? Never. I wonder what changed.” 

“She did more water performances during that spring circuit. All that exercise.” 

“Exercise!” Tenko exclaims with such force that she nearly chucks Kaede’s phone in the air. It’s that precise moment that Kaede takes her phone back, she won’t be able to afford a new one if she leaves it with her roommate any longer. “They must be linked. It’s like physical energy, she just needs to exercise her body so that she can make her magic work faster.” 

“I’m sure you can convince her to hit the gym with you with that line of reasoning. It’ll be beneficial to you both, how could she turn it down?” 

“Take that Angie!” She sticks her tongue out at a photo that features Himiko and Angie streaked in paint, holding up a messy canvas that Himiko worked so hard on. 

“Wait Tenko! Don’t do that!” 

+==+

_ Later  _

**Magical Girl Himiko** : u want 2 get me ice cream? 

**Piano Reeves** : yeah, but you have to come to my room and then we’ll go get ice cream

**Magical Girl Himiko** : … (>_>) 

**Piano Reeves** : c’mon i’m treating YOU to ice cream. all you have to do is come to my room, and then we’ll go to the parlor

**Magical Girl Himiko** : thats so much walking tho

**Piano Reeves** : just do it^tm or. else.

**Magical Girl Himiko** : bold of u to threaten me i can use my magic to punish u 

**Piano Reeves** : screenshotting and sending it to Tenko is not magic

**Magical Girl Himiko** : bc 💁 {girl emoji} ⬜ {square emoji} ⬆️ {arrow up}

**Piano Reeves** : indubitably 

**Magical Girl Himiko** : is that an insult… i have my fingers over the buttons 

**Piano Reeves** : no. just a word i learned from Sonia. just take it as, yeah, i believe she’ll square up

**Magical Girl Himiko** : gud

**Piano Reeves** : hurry up though. we have some important business to talk about 

**Magical Girl Himiko** : nyeh

**Piano Reeves** : come on, i won’t do your marketing anymore!

**Magical Girl Himiko** : 4 sum reason my magic wont work i guess i have 2 c u in a bit 

+==+

“She thinks I’m in love with Angie?” Himiko asks after Kaede explains the scenario, seeing the freshly inked devil horns on some of the pictures that include the offender. 

“Maki isn’t the best at talking to people, and then Tenko started crying and drawing all over the pictures with you three.” 

“My assigned gremlin has left the cave, have you seen-” Maki barges in unannounced and sees Himiko staring at the photos on Tenko’s wall. “Oh, there’s Himiko.”

“I’m a mage!” Himiko shouts back. 

“Both are magical, so cool your jets.” Maki dismisses as she sits on Kaede’s bed. “Where’s Tenko? What happened to damage control?”

Kaede shakes her head, “I have no clue, she started drawing on Angie’s face and then," she gestures the door with her thumb "she yeeted out of here.” 

“I made her upset, so if she starts acting funny around you, know why.” Maki tries to avoid direct eye contact with Himiko as she says this.

“I can’t believe she thinks I’m in love with Angie because of you!” 

“If that’s how she interpreted it, then that’s her fault.” 

“Maki.” Kaede’s warning voices makes Maki loosen her tensing muscles. Right, she should be apologizing. But she didn’t like doing that, so she decides against it.

“She didn’t ask what I meant though.”

“You knew what kind of idea you were putting in her head though!” Kaede counters, pointing an accusatory finger at Maki. Kaede doesn’t back down from the murderous glare, and Maki’s about to smack her with a pillow (or something) when Himiko groans. 

“Tenko wants me to torture my body. Angie’s stuff doesn’t hurt, her stuff just requires me to be awake long enough to see results. Exercise or outside stuff versus painting or praying.” She offers the options up like a scale and she doesn't try to hide her bias towards Angie's activities. 

“But it’s super important to her. You want her to know how much she means to you, yeah?” Kaede pulls away from the glare-down to encourage Himiko towards the  _ right  _ choice. The smaller girl begrudgingly rolls herself up into a ball on Tenko’s bed, mentally preparing herself

“I’m going to be so tired after this though.” Her whines are amplified with her pout. She knows what she needs to do; her body just needs to catch up to her mental commands. Her phone is in her hand. 

“You build endurance,” Maki offers, “and then it won’t be as bad anymore.” 

“He gave you that big dose, didn’t he?” Kaede can’t contain her childish glee. 

Himiko clicks on Tenko’s face, rolling on her side to face the wall after seeing Maki’s face ice over. She hears something strike against the wall, she peeks and sees a pencil protruding from the cork board a little shy to Kaede’s left. She stares back at the wall. It’s dialing. 

“Heh.” Is all that exhales out of Kaede’s mouth.

“Do you want to die?”

“We get it, ass is a sin. You don’t like talking about the birds and the bees because you get weird, but seriously!?” 

**Riiiing. Riiiiing. **

“I told you. I missed on purpose.” 

**Riiiing. Riiiing. Riiin-**

“My Himiko! You were just on my mind!” Tenko’s voice explodes through the receiver like rapidfire. “I was just wondering if I could help you with your next magic performance. I was looking-”

“Tenko.” Himiko tries when she pauses for air, but Tenko pushes through.

“Nononono, hear me out, I was looking at your video that Kaede uploaded, and you used to be so fast. I was wondering if I helped, you might be able to fit more routines into your performance. I have a theory and I just wanted to test it, so I was wondering if maybe you’d like to try it with me?” 

“Sure, does it involve going to the gym?” 

“Because I think your magic and physical body are linked together so if you exercise one, then the other should boost up? Like in Neo-Aikido!”

“Okay, let’s do it.” Himiko smiles; Tenko can go on for hours if she’s passionate enough. 

“And you don’t have to say yes because it’s me, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” Her voice drops in volume, and Himiko thinks she’s nervous, and it pulls at her heartstrings. She loves her girlfriend so much. But she was having trouble hearing with Kaede and Maki arguing about the pencil and having a vulgar mind like Miu. And what if I moved my head, and you wouldn’t have I missed on purpose. Mumbo jumbo. 

She moves away so she can hear Tenko a little clearer. It sounds like she’s rambling a little, so Himiko responds with something safe. “Okay, Tenko.”

“And that’s why I think it would be a great theory to test. I guess what I’m really trying to say is, would you like to exercise at the gym with me?” 

Himiko laughs, “that sounds like a great idea.” And she waits for Tenko to ramble further but it doesn’t happen. Did she hear her? She’s about to ask if she’s still on the phone, if Tenko put the phone on mute by accident, but then.

Tenko screeches. And she screeches for a long time, Himiko keeps the phone away from her ear until she quiets down enough to holler, “Are you sure!? You never want to go! Did I change your mind!?” 

“I’ve been cooped up in my room, and I need to move around. Plus, there’s no one I’d rather do this with.” Himiko hides herself from the obvious staring from Kaede and Maki. 

“So… not even… Angie?” Her voice is quiet. 

“Atua wouldn’t even be able to move me. Just you, Tenko.” 

Tenko begins screeching again.

“I love you.” Himiko says with a sheepish smile.

Screech ensues.

“I’ll talk to you soon.” Himiko hangs up and quickly sends a few heart emojis. Then she turns around with a pointed expression, arms at her hips to emphasize that she does mean business. “Alright, I want triple scoops, and I want gummy worms.” 

“Are you su-” 

“Let’s get you that ice cream then.” Kaede cuts Maki off before she finishes her sentence.

+++ 

It may seem counterproductive to shower before the gym, but she doesn’t remember the last time she showered, so here she is. She doesn’t want Tenko to deal with her being extra stinky, she already deals with her usual grossness. 

The dread hits when she’s shampooing her hair, and then she smacks her forehead against the tile wall. “You can’t bail, you can’t bail, you can’t bail.” She chants monotonously, and she’s hoping if she says it enough times, it’ll disappear. 

She should stop, her head hurts. 

“But I’m so tiiiiiired, and it’s just from eating ice cream.” She argues with herself. 

Her eyes lock on the drain, the bubbles swirling down. What’s the least excruciating exercise? Everything seems horrible. Maybe she could get Tenko to spot for her, and she’ll just let the bar with the weights collapse onto her twig body every time, and Tenko will be forced to save her. Each. Time. She thinks she could work with that, and then of course, she’ll try when she isn’t tired. Yeah, it sounds like a plan. Maybe she could try the bicycle if she really  _ had  _ to. 

The lights shift in the bathroom, something bright begins flashing on the wall. Next is a blaring sound. 

“What?” Himiko whips her neck back to stare at the atrocity. The fire alarm. “Is this a drill or something?” She scoots to the corner of the shower, and reaches her arm out to the little changing area where her clothes sit, her hand fishes for her phone, but she can’t seem to find it.

She turns off the water for a moment and then opens the shower curtain to focus her attention on finding her phone. What if there really is a fire? She’s naked. Should she be trying to confirm whether or not there’s a real fire or should she be getting dressed first? 

If it’s fake, then she’d have to take off her clothes and finish her shower. If it were real, well… yeah. 

She was already looking for her phone so why not. She finds it. And. There are so many notifications on her phone, mostly snapchat. She opens the most recent one, Kaito is filming a fire. Then Kokichi is filming the fire. Then Shuichi is running down the hall, and it sounds like there are a few other people running with him. Because of the fire. And she gets the picture. It’s a real fire. 

She pulls on sweatpants and hoodie, not even bothering with drying herself nor suiting in undergarments because she should’ve left sooner. She slips once she steps out of the stall and she’s even more wet than before. Her head hurts and she’s angry that she can’t lie there, but the blares from alarm sure make it unappealing. She gets back to her feet and abandons most of her stuff in the communal shower stall. 

The steam from her shower kept her from seeing the smoke. The bathroom is foggy with it, and she feels the difference in her lungs when stumbles her way to the exit. When it opens, there’s a wall of thick dark smoke. She tries to find her barings and runs left, but it leads her to the elevators, which aren’t working. Wrong side, stupid Himiko. 

She races to the other end of the hall where the stairwells are, she sees the closing exit sign among the flashing lights. Her chest hurts. From the hammering heart, from the burn of her lungs, who knows. It just hurts. She throws open the door to the stairwell when she reaches it and collides into somebody immediately. 

“Himiko!” Tenko exclaims, and Himiko begins a coughing fit. 

“We gotta,” Himiko croaks out but ends up coughing more. Tenko tries to steady her bewildered girlfriend. “Run.” Himiko shakes her off and tugs on her arm as she begins their descent.

She’s out of breath and she feels like she’s falling down all the stairs. She can’t feel her wet feet slapping the cement stairs, maybe she should’ve thrown on socks. She probably  _ is _ slipping down half of them since she’s drenched and moving so fast, the only thing that’s stabilizing her is Tenko’s grip on her bicep. Whenever she begins falling over a little too much, Tenko pulls her back the right amount so she’s upright again.

Himiko feels like she sucking in pure ice. Her chest burns. She must've been in that bathroom longer than she should've. She should've moved faster. When the alarm first broke out. Stupid. 

They reach the ground level. She launches herself out and sucks in a ragged breath. It’s enough to send her into another coughing fit. Before she can sink into the grass, Tenko wraps her arm around her middle and tows her away from the building. She pulls her into a hug and demands her to breathe. 

Himiko struggles to say something but most of it sounds wispy, like she has hair in her throat. “You can tell me after you catch your breath.” Tenko shushes her.

Himiko tries to walk towards Gonta and Kirumi, but the sudden movements nearly make her heave out the ice cream she had earlier. She feels it churning in her stomach. How the hell does running do that to your stomach, shouldn’t it be isolated to your legs?

“Tired.” She burps out, and she feels like jelly. Without Tenko, she’d be plastered to the floor already.

“Get on my back.” Tenko crouches down, inviting Himiko.

“But I’m wet.” Himiko makes a point of twisting some water out of her soggy sleeve. It produces an impressive amount of water. 

“So? Nothing I’m not used to,” Tenko wiggles her eyebrows and Himiko scrunches her face in slight embarrassment. Tenko quickly steals a peck on her lips and then resumes her squat on the ground. 

She warns Tenko about maybe wanting to vomit up her ice cream, and of course, being the most compassionate being to ever enter her energy space, Tenko insists that she gets on her back regardless, just give a warning beforehand so if she were to projectile vomit, it’ll at least be aimed at the closest male.

They walk towards the bigger group. “So what happened.” Tenko asks.

“Fire alarm.” Gonta says, and Tenko doesn’t insult him as she would have if any other male given that same response. 

“It just turned off.” Kirumi gestures her chin towards the building, and the windows are now open to let the smoke out. “Weird, that was rather quick. I didn’t even see anyone go in to inspect it.” 

“I think I know what happened…” Maki utters to herself like a secret she’s hesitant to share.

“Who knew witches could run!” Kokichi’s head pokes out from one of the windows from the top floor; he’s holding a megaphone. “You should have nooooo problem training her now. You can thank me later for unlocking her full potential.” 

“Was he eavesdropping on us or something?” Kaede whirls around at a glowering Maki. “Wait, is that Kaito up there too?” 

“You should be off the hook now Maki Roll!” Kaito’s head pokes out beside the purple-haired boy. 

“I can’t believe him.” Maki grunts in disapproval. “All he had to do was cheer me up, not try to take matters into his own hands.” 

"I… ran because of those shitty... degenerate males?” Himiko croaks. She throws up her middle finger and glares at the boys upstairs. 

Tenko never looked prouder.

Kokichi takes the megaphone back from Kaito, “I’m going to pretend you thanked me, so YOU’RE WELCOME!” Then as if seeing someone in a dazzling white uniform marching toward their dorm building, he scurries out of sight, leaving a clueless and wheezing Kaito behind to air out the smoke. 

While that gets settled, everyone waits until it’s clear to enter the building again 

“Do you still want to go to the gym?” Tenko asks, voice filled with that innocent hope. She tilts her head back to butter up her chances with puppy eyes, and Himiko stares back with the most deadpan expression. 

She doesn’t answer per say, so Tenko doesn’t take it as a no when Himiko slumps over and buries her face into Tenko’s hair, spilling her own wet mop of hair over Tenko’s face. She exhales the longest groan Tenko’s ever heard. It’s not exactly a no. 

Tenko carries her to the gym. 

She sets her down on the bench near the back of the women’s section. Himiko is too tired to suppress her annoyance, yet Tenko still kisses her chastely on the lips with a huge smile on her face. Maybe she’s drawing on her magic because Himiko feels her own mouth twitch upwards afterwards. 

Tenko squats in front of her, massaging Himiko’s already cramping calves. It wasn’t fair. She said she was going to go to the gym, but she had to be punished by exercising before the actual scheduled exercise session! She’ll have to make another potion for good luck, she’ll gather some of that Makoto Naegi’s hair that she read about in an article when she returns to her dorm. Maybe Maki can snag some for her as apology. 

“Listen my Himiko, you already did more than you should’ve today.” She kisses her knee… in public… in a gym. Where other people are! Her face could boil one of her cauldrons, she can’t believe she's being romantic here. Himiko almost kicks her out of astonishment, but Tenko knows Himiko enough to hold down her legs before she spazzes out. “You can just watch, or do you want to count the reps for me?” 

“I can count for you.” 

Himiko tries to, but she forgets that her girlfriend is just  _ that _ buff, so she loses count sometimes because she's oogling. Tenko doesn't mind, she restarts whenever she loses focus. Tenko likes that she gets to show off a little, but then Sakura comes over to make sure that Tenko doesn't drop the weights on herself, and then Himiko focuses for Tenko's sake this time. 

"...23, 24, and 25!" Tenko is sweating and her arms are bulging. Sakura helps lift the bar back to its rightful place, the clang of the metal sounds like Tenko was lifting serious weight and Himiko feels a little bad. As a thanks, Tenko fistbumps Sakura because she's out of breath from having to repeat that seven times over. 

"Beware of overexertion," Sakura warns before she goes back to the other side with Hina.

"Need a breather." Tenko stands up and Himiko thinks of dirty things when she sees sweat trickle down her exposed stomach. "Sit ups. I could those for hours. Let's do 4 sets of 25 with this one too." 

Maybe the gym won't be that bad, as long as she has this view each time. 

+++ 

Himiko regrets those thoughts the next day when Tenko expects her to workout this time. She's panting a minute in on the bicycle. She hates exercise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be really short (like 1K words at least but it kind of unraveled into something a little longer), but I enjoyed writing it! I don't know if the following chapters will be this long but who knows! Thank you so much for reading, I hope you liked it! Lemme know if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions! 
> 
> Feel free to request something!


	2. Chihiro: BUFF BOIS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically. Chihiro wants to be tough so he asks Leon for help and it turns into a squad thing. Mondo doesn't want Leon killing Chihiro with his workouts so he's there to make sure they're in check. Hiro stretches everyone because they don't know how to properly stretch and he helps their sore bodies with the power of yoga and chill vibes. Taka is just so stressed that they're not eating enough (protein but eating in general) so he cooks for everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Chihiro, he's such a wholesome boi.

Chihiro stares at the calendar posted near the gym entrance.  _ Physicals _ and the  _ Sports Festival _ are scheduled consecutively in the upcoming week, the festival lasts three days, the first two days for the actual sports, and then the last day is for awards. It’s his least favorite part of the year, last year he sat out due to ‘stomach aches’ and nobody questioned it; they knew better than to press. The years before, he would be chosen last on teams due to his performance during his physical test, so it’s no surprise that he would rather sit out. 

This year he’ll participate, he’s been training at least twice a week with Mondo for a few months and he feels like he can impress himself with the progress he’s made. He knows it’ll be different, he can feel little muscles in his arms that were just soft fat before. Maybe he could snag an award if he tries a more intensive workout regime. He thinks he’s capable. Just one award, and he’ll be happy.

He almost calls Mondo, but Mondo has been very strict about this being a gradual process, and he knows another person who is a little more unethical in his exercise routines. He pulls out his phone and dials blindly. 

“Wassup Chihiro,” Leon answers on the fourth ring, and he can hear a lot of noise in the background. Is he in band practice?

“H-Hello Leon, are you busy right now?” 

“Eh, kinda.” Someone is definitely playing the drums. 

“I’ll call back later then!” Chihiro nearly ends the call but Leon starts barking protests. 

“You already have me on the phone. What’s bugging you, you would’ve texted if it weren’t something.” Suddenly the noise stops, and Chihiro can hear him shush people in the background, it’s much quieter now. 

“You know how you’re trying to be a rockstar, and whenever you have to do a baseball game, you work out quickly and then you’re in a shape again?” 

“I AM a rockstar!” Leon sounds insulted and Chihiro mutters an apology for his phrasing. Leon acknowledges it with a huff before recovering in an almost sarcastic tone, “but other than that, yeah.” 

“Okay so... I was hoping you can introduce me to some of those insane workouts because I want to be stronger for the Sports Festival.” 

“No joke, are you for real?” 

“Without a doubt.” Chihiro almost doubts himself because maybe he’s asking too much of Leon to help him, he hopes his friend doesn’t think he’s trying to force him to do this out of a friendship obligation. But Leon isn’t responding negatively, so maybe it’s going well? Okay, yes, there are some doubts but only about Leon’s involvement, and Chihiro blurts this out to him. Leon quickly reassures him that he doesn’t care and still wants to help. 

“Meet me in front of my room in 15 minutes.” Leon says, his voice shrouded by excitement. “Sorry Sayaka babe, I gotta go, I need to help my boy out with something.” The call drops immediately.

Chihiro smiles to himself with this small step, he’ll be a little closer to his victory. 

+++ 

“I don’t see why we have to visit Hiro. I already know how to stretch before working out.” Chihiro demonstrates this by pulling his right foot back with his arm, staying balanced on one leg. He feels a pull in his hamstring from the pose. “And I would hold this for 20 seconds.” He drops his foot and stares at the taller boy. Mondo taught him the basics he doesn’t see why he needs to do this all over again. 

“You know how to stretch for your usual workouts, but you need to learn how to stretch for Leon’s Ready to Kick Ass Bootcamp.” Leon showcases his arm muscles on that last part, along with a cocky grin. 

“Ah, I see. Sorry, you’re right.” Why does he ever doubt his friends, they know better than him. He almost wants to hide in his jumpsuit for his misguided show of confidence. He takes a single step away from the redhead before Leon wraps an arm around Chihiro’s shoulder, pulls him a little closer, and ruffles his hair a little. 

“Hiro, let us in.” Leon knocks on the door. 

No answer. Leon bangs this time, shouting Hiro’s name through the keyhole. Something thuds on the other side, and Chihiro wants to believe it isn’t Hiro, but he knows better than to believe that Hiro doesn’t fall out of his bed every time he wakes up, it’s almost the first thing that comes out of his mouth every time he shows up to class late. There’s some more shuffling, and then the door creaks open a smidge to reveal half of Hiro’s face greeting them with a menacing look. 

“Can’t let a wise man sleep, huh?” He groans out, his voice growing louder as he becomes more awake. “Hella uncool, my dudes.” 

“It’s 2pm.” Leon deadpans, shoving at the door to open it wider, but Hiro scrambles to keep them from entering, now his whole face is visible rather than just half of it. 

“First of all, it’s noon-thirty, get it straight. And numero dos, fortunes need extra sleep before I can tell them, I’m like 70% of the way there.” 

“Bullshit.” Chihiro’s eyes widen slightly; if Taka were here, he would have Leon scrubbing his tongue with soap. 

“Don’t be mean and stop judging. This is a judgment-free zone,” Hiro steps out to bring their attention to his heavily decorated door. He taps on the metallic sign that reads ‘Cool Vibes Only’ and proudly says, “If it’s on a sign, then you know it’s law.” 

Chihiro opens his mouth, but his voice fails him, so he shuts it and continues to stand there awkwardly. Leon chuckles lightly and shakes his head, but he doesn’t protest either. “Good point, I’ll cool it.” Hiro grins at this. “We’re here because we need some deep-stretching done.”

“Hello Hiro!” Chihiro takes it as his cue to contribute to the conversation, and Hiro blinks at him.

“You don’t play baseball though?” 

Leon motions to go into the room, so Hiro steps to the side to let them in this time. Leon plops himself on the carpet and pats the space next to him. Chihiro folds himself into a tight sitting position, compared to Leon’s splayed out figure. Hiro sits across from them on the edge of his bed while he listens to Chihiro explain his goals. 

“So often am I going to be leading your stretches?” Hiro asks, pulling unruly hair out of his face and into a ponytail.

Chihiro stiffens and rushes to say, “I’m so sorry if I’ve inconvenienced you, you can stop whenever you wish. Please don’t feel like you have to do this if you don’t want to.” He starts getting up, but Leon tugs at his arm, getting him to stay seated. 

“Don’t worry, he has nothing better to do.” The tease earns him a few flying hairbands to the face. “Well you don’t! So what, you’re not going to stretch us?” 

“I mean, I will, but don’t just say I don’t have plans. I predict many things to happen this week, all involving me.” 

“Okay. SORRY, dude!” Leon throws his hands up in surrender. “But do you think you can stretch us all the way until physicals next week?” His voice is significantly softer and more pleading than he’s ever heard it. Chihiro doesn’t like the sound of it, he doesn’t want to guilt anyone to do anything, otherwise, he’d much rather do the training alone if that’s how Leon wants to operate.

“You’re kidding, it’s already that time of year again!” Hiro smacks his forehead. “Of course, my guys, I’ll use this as my own training too.” 

Chihiro relaxes, but he overhears Leon mumble something about Hiro, hell, and the gym that makes his stomach coil up into knots again. 

“Alright, lay on the ground and let me work my magic.” After setting the scene with some ocean sounds and candles, he cracks his knuckles and approaches the shaking Leon first. 

+++

It takes them an hour to stretch, and another 30 minutes for Hiro to lead a yoga session so they have control over their minds and bodies, the word chakras is thrown in there too at one point but Chihiro stopped listening when his body melted into something like putty, very malleable. When they stand up, it surprises him how many muscles he can control. He doesn’t have time to dwell on it too long because Leon has them race to the gym after throwing Hiro a few thank you’s. 

At the gym, Leon explains how he won’t have Chihiro do as many baseball oriented workouts, and how he’ll try to limit it to the basic workout groups. “Now, I want you to know that you’re the one who asked for this, so don’t get angry at me during the workout. You can stop at any-” 

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll back out from this that easily, but I appreciate the sentiment.” Chihiro takes a sip of water from the water fountain they pass, he wipes the water dripping down his lip with the back of his hand. “Now let’s get down to business!” He breaks out in song, earning him sideways glances from some people on the treadmills. 

“I love the spirit!” Leon begins harmonizing and continues the Mulan lyrics until they reach a secluded area of the gym full of mats. He sets up his workout playlist, going with the Disney theme that Chihiro started, and then with an apologetic smile, says, “300 crunches, let’s go!” 

Chihiro nearly chokes on his own spit because maybe he heard him wrong, but Leon is already getting on his back and he’s barking the number at him until Chihiro follows suit and gets down and starts.

He can do this. 299 to go. 

+++

Somehow, someway, Chihiro gets there. He lost count somewhere around the point a cramp settled between his ribcage and abdomen. He’s on his feet, blinking, breathing, and following Leon around until they settle with new equipment. They do the electronic stairs. It’s faster than Chihiro expects, and he has no one else to blame but himself when he flies off the first two times before he has a decent rhythm down. 

Afterwards, they’re doing something with cross cables, but the details are beyond his mind and body. The rest of the gym experience is hazy - which could be due to a concussion from those moving stairs. But he doesn’t want to alarm Leon with the idea, and he just focuses on getting enough oxygen to his brain. 

He’s weak, that he’s sure of. By the end of it, he thinks Leon is carrying him to the bathroom and splashing water on his face. The one thought that pops up in his head is how Mondo wouldn’t have allowed him to do this. Maybe he should’ve just asked Mondo for extra help instead. Leon is… Leon is. Leon is talking to him.

They stare at each other. 

“Can you keep water down? I feel like you’ll throw up.” Chihiro focuses on his lips, translating the shapes into sounds. He imagines how much the older boy is heaving that his voice must sound quite raspy right now. 

Chihiro keeps staring. He wants to let his body rest, no more talking. 

“Sip.” There’s something cold on his mouth and he lets it in. He swallows most of it, what he doesn’t, well… Leon wipes it off.

“We’re going to finish with a sprint and then we can go home.” Leon is breathless too, so why is he doing this to himself?!

“Kay.” Chihiro forces out, and he isn’t sure if he stood up or not, his body is numb. 

+++

Leon ends up hauling Chihiro to Hiro’s room for a post-workout stretch. Once inside, they gladly collapse on the floor to cool-down, but Hiro eyes them with apprehension and minimal disgust. 

“Y’all, you smell.” He dramatically fans his hands, shooing them towards the door. “You couldn’t shower beforehand? You know, I have to touch you dudes.” 

The familiar flush of shame crowds Chihiro’s senses, “Sorry,” he motions his body to go towards Hiro’s shower. And his arm slaps against the floor, one step closer than before. “Lemme shower here,” he exhales lamely against the floor, for a brief moment, fogging it up.

“C’mon! Fix us so we’re not paralyzed tomorrow.” Leon whines. “We’ll shower tomorrow before we come.” 

“Ugh, cannot predict that right now.” Hiro throws on the closest gloves he can find, which happen to be gardening gloves. “But I hope that you’re 100% right.” 

Hiro stretches Chihiro first. 

+++

Chihiro is so exhausted that he just sleeps. He tries to shower, he really does, but he leaves halfway through, shampoo still in his hair. He falls asleep in his towel and successfully soaks his sheets. He thinks he hears his phone ringing but he’s too tired to care. 

+++ 

“So you just don’t text back?” Chihiro wakes up to a bulldozing voice. 

“Eh?” He croaks, blinking bleary eyes up at the source of the noise. 

Mondo is towering over him. That’s right, Mondo has the extra copy of his dorm key. “You didn’t answer my calls or texts. What’s up with that, huh?” Chihiro is still blinking the sleep from his eyes, and he manages another noise in his throat. “You mad at me? You could’ve said you didn’t want to exercise.” 

Scratching his wet hair, Chihiro clears his throat and sits up. “The time?” 

“11pm! We were supposed to meet at 10:30!” That part wakes him up, he didn’t realize he slept so long. He swears he shut his eyes a few minutes ago. 

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I’m sorry,” he bites his inner cheek before adding, “Let’s go to the gym now.” He gets up, and the towel practically slips off completely but he catches it before it slides off his waist. 

“What made you so tired that you didn’t even put on your clothes?” Mondo throws his own jacket over the smaller boy, keeping him covered. “What were you doing all day?” 

“I think… you’ll be mad if you knew.” He drops his voice to a whisper as he covers his face with part of the jacket.

“What?” 

“I was exercising.” 

“And?” Mondo laughs. “What’d you do to make me sooo mad?” 

“So,” he puffs out his cheeks, trying to make himself look a little cuter before he continues because he doesn’t want Mondo to be mad at him. “Leon has this special workout…” 

He doesn’t go any further because Mondo knows. Of course he knows. The two used to work out together way before Chihiro asked him to help him become more masculine and tough. Mondo is not happy. 

+++

“Leon!! What the fuck do you think you were doing to Chihiro!?” Mondo’s voice is thunderous as he pounds his fist against Leon’s door. “You treating him like Kanon treats you ain’t right!” Chihiro wants to melt where he stands and soak into the carpeted hallway, leaving only his button-up and shorts in his place. 

“The fuck dude?!” Leon shouts back from the other side of the door. “I’m tired as shit, leave me alone!” 

“Bitch, NO!” Mondo pounds harder, “Should’ve thought of that before torturing my lil dude.” 

“It’s okay, Mondo. I’m the one who asked.” Chihiro tries grabbing his arm to calm him, it works briefly. 

“You asked, and  _ he - _ ” an accusatory finger points at Leon’s nameplate “- should’ve  _ refused! _ ” 

“Bro, please do not force me to write you a demerit.” A new voice joins the noise, and Chihiro whips around to see Taka approaching them in his silk pajamas. He has a clipboard in his hand, and he’s clicking a pen in the other. “You are screaming during our quiet hours. People are sleeping.”

The door swings open, and a smug and grouchy looking Leon steps out with his arms crossed. “Yeah, like I was, bitch.” He punctuates the last part by aiming a glare at Mondo. 

“Language!” Taka disciplines. 

“I want to file a disturbance report.” Leon smiles when Mondo grinds his teeth a little.

“And I wanna file an abuse report. He made Chihiro do his stupid fucking workout.” 

“News flash asshole, he makes his own decisions. I want to do another report for disturbing my space with dumbass energy!” Leon glances at Taka to make sure he’s writing down his complaints. 

“Do you wanna throw down?” Mondo growls, cracking his knuckles. “We can fucking go!”

“Language reminder! And. One report at a time please, I can only write so fast. I’m still writing my bro’s citation-” Taka looks up, and realizes the atmosphere. “And absolutely no horseplay of any kind! Bro, put your fist down.” 

“Please stop fighting!”Chihiro says loudly enough to shock himself, and they stop momentarily to look at him. Chihiro is mad, he can’t believe they’re resorting to how they treated him before, when he used to disguise himself as a girl. He’s not fragile anymore, he can make his own decisions! And he’s definitely not sorry for causing this. The audacity of his friends. “If you two keep fighting, I’ll just end up going to the gym by myself.”

He thinks he’s crying a little, and he blames it on the fatigue. Definitely not because he is a little upset that his friends are fighting, and that they care enough to fight, but they’re fighting over the wrong reasons! 

"Sorry." Old habits die hard, Chihiro thinks bitterly as he wipes his face free of any tears. He tries to look angry, but it's hard when his eyes are wet. 

"Nononononono." Is all he hears when numerous hands pat him on the back and his head. 

"You cannot control their behavior, Hope's Peak knows that I have tried. You can lead a horse to water all you want, but you cannot make it drink." Taka produces a handkerchief from the shirt pocket and dabs it across Chihiro's face. 

He sniffles a little more and the boys group in together to give him a hug. Just when he thinks he's okay, he thinks about how all of those manly muscles could suffocate him easily. And he cries a little harder. 

" _ Bro. _ " Taka clears his throat one too many times to go unnoticed 

"I’m sorry." Mondo whispers immediately into Chihiro's hair. 

"I should be the one who’s sorry, I just wanted to win a medal at the festival! I know that being extreme can do more harm than good but I just really wanted to be good at something physical for once." He pouts around his words. He feels Taka vibrate beside him.

"HOW ADMIRABLE!” Taka bursts. “We must support him! Bro, Leon, we must encourage him in his endeavors to become crowned a champion during the Sports Festival!" 

They break from their huddle, and Mondo gripes over the possible injuries Chihiro could inflict onto his body. Leon argues that he was able to hold his own today, that Mondo is just babying him. 

"He's like my child! Of course I have to baby him!" He catches Chihiro's offended glares and switched his argument. "He's our bro-baby!" Maybe that's an improvement? 

"Let us start this amazing journey with a nutritious protein shake, all of us!" Taka claps the back of the taller men's backs and shuffles them towards the kitchen while Chihiro leads the way. 

+++

Chihiro is sitting on the floor in a different, less smelly tracksuit. Hiro scratches the stubble on his chin, "There’s another one." 

"How perceptive of you. Gold star!" Mondo says in mock cheer as he lies back, lying completely on the ground. 

"Bruh, chill!" Hiro retorts, shaking his head as he gets the environment ready for their morning session.

"How do you have the energy to be this rude in the morning?" Leon grumbles, also lying back. Chihiro takes it as his own cue to flatten himself out too.

"It’s just his personality." Chihiro tries to lighten the mood with a joke. He sticks his tongue out at Mondo. 

"All natural badass."

“With  _ that _ unicorn hair? Sure, man.” Leon says mostly to himself, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“I think I heard a little bitch in the air,” Mondo scratches his ear with his middle finger, “must’ve been my imagination.” 

“You’re being rude to Hiro.” Chihiro cuts them off before getting too carried away. Mondo mutters something, but Chihiro aims a foul look. 

"Thanks little man," Hiro first bumps the smallest boy. "They were totes throwing off the aura I was trying to build here." He gestures towards the Christmas lights hanging around the ceiling. 

Now that he mentions it, Chihiro glances around the room and takes in all the small details. The minty aromatherapy, the calm ocean sounds, and the dim but twinkling lighting. It almost feels like he's wrapped in his own safe haven (despite it lacking the computers); it’s all very relaxing. He tries expressing this to Hiro, but it only comes out as, “Chillness.”

“Chillness indeed!” Hiro brightens, and then he slaps his hands together. “Alright, time to get started.” He starts with the legs, getting them in position, and observes them all with a satisfied grunt. Until he sees Mondo struggling to keep his legs open to the insane angle. “I think I’m going to have to spend extra time stretching Mondo.” 

“That’s what TAKA SAID!” Leon cackles in the corner, his face red and veins bulging slightly from the sheer willpower it takes to laugh while doing Hiro’s stretch.

As if struck by lightning, Mondo straightens up immediately, his muscles bulging at the idea of slapping Leon around - but Hiro intercepts him and shoves him back on the ground with a surprising amount of force that Chihiro isn’t aware that he had. 

But Chihiro mentally laughs because despite being physically restrained, Mondo is practically foaming at the mouth with threats. “I’m gonna rip that bedazzled half-ass job you got going on with your chin!” His voice bristles, the rest of his insults flooding out in the same fashion. 

Chihiro steals a glance and sees that Mondo is too busy pointing his anger Leon; he’s probably unaware of what Hiro’s doing. With both ankles in his hands, Hiro smiles at Chihiro before he stretches Mondo’s legs brazenly wide. His voice hitches and dissolves completely into a strangled sound in his throat, and he moans as what Leon says, “like a bitch.” 

“Vibe check, yo.” Hiro grins to himself.

+++

The workout session goes as well as Chihiro could hope for after learning what he had to go through the first day, which is to say, it does not go very well. His arms stop working before he blacks out, and he’s dunked in an ice bath as a form of recovery - at least, that’s how Chihiro figures it when Leon lifts him out with a very concerned looking Mondo. Hiro must’ve been called when during his blackout because he’s there too.

Hiro begins working through Chihiro’s body to make sure he didn’t hurt himself through the overexertion. His body is still trembling but he’s pliant and very thankful that the muscles relax under Hiro’s guidance. By the time the other two finish, Chihiro feels slightly less than refreshed but not as knotted and disjointed as before. 

“Come on, I’m not dragging you too.” Leon huffs out, arms bracing themselves against his knees as he tilts his head towards the figure that hasn’t moved from the bench press. 

“You seriously do this before every one of your baseball games?” Yeah, Mondo isn’t going to get up. Chihiro can tell by how overly breathy Mondo’s voice is, not nearly enough noise to suggest he has that sort of energy right now. Leon staggers over and helps him up. He continues to support him on the way out of the gym. 

Hiro sends them back to the locker rooms when he realizes that they’re making a beeline for his room. He doesn’t want them ‘funking’ up the place, and they comply like he holds the power to cure all their aches and pains. Because he mostly can. 

+++

** _Kiyotaka Ishimaru _ ** _ added  _ ** _Mondo Oowada_ ** _ and 3 others to  _ ** _Ensuring Proper Exercise and Nutrition for Chihiro_ ** _ group chat _

**Kiyotaka Ishimaru** : Hello everyone and bro! I have an announcement to make: I have prepared some meals for you all and labelled them accordingly. Since they did not fit in my personal refrigerator, I have put all of them in the communal fridge on Chihiro’s hall. 

**Kiyotaka Ishimaru** : Correction. Bro, yours is in my refrigerator. Everyone else’s is in the kitchen across from Chihiro’s room. 

** _Mondo Oowada _ ** _ changed chat name to  _ ** _Buff Bois_ ** _ and made 5 other changes _

**Bro** : Thank u bro! Ur so great, best bro

**Lil Bruh** : You’re so nice Taka, you didn’t have to. I really appreciate it, thank you!  _ [happy_dog.gif] _

**Bro <3** : I do not approve of the edits made, but I will allow it. 

**Bro <3** : :-) 

**Yoga Broseph** : Do i get some 2 👀 ?

**Bro <3** : Of course! You’re responsible for Chihiro’s growth too!

**Yoga Broseph** : sweeeeeeeet 

**Bro** : Say thank you.

**Yoga Broseph** :  _ [Hiro_eating_chicken_tacos.jpeg]  _ ur a real one Taka ✌🏽

**Bro** : that’s NOT how you say T H A N K YOU!

**Yoga Broseph** : geez, lemme finish my tacos first. 

**Yoga Broseph** :  _ [closeup_of_face_with_angry_Mondo_in_background.jpeg]  _ Thanks Taka 

**wannabe broski** : Thanks dude!

**wannabe broski** : not you Mondo. Next time i’ll let that bar drop onto your chest

** _wannabe broski _ ** _ changed  _ ** _Bro_ ** _ ’s name to  _ ** _Brokeback Mountain_ **

**Lil Bruh: ** _ [shocked_stuffed_monkey.gif]  _

**Brokeback Mountain: ** k. 

** _Brokeback Mountain _ ** _ changed  _ ** _wannabe broski_ ** _ ’s name to  _ ** _bitch_ **

**Lil Bruh: ** >_< guys

** _bitch _ ** _ changed  _ ** _Brokeback Mountain_ ** _ ’s name to  _ ** _your a piece of shit_ **

** _Bro <3 _ ** _ changed  _ ** _bitch’_ ** _ s name to  _ ** _*you’re_ **

** _Yoga Broseph _ ** _ changed their name to  _ ** _i’m shooketh_ **

**Lil Bruh** : see you l8r losers  _ [spongebob_i’m_outta_here.meme] _

** _Lil Bruh_ ** _ has left the chat _

**i’m shooketh:** whoa i’m shook

+++ 

Chihiro’s days are absorbed by the other boys. 

Taka, despite not being very active himself, is the one who streamlines them. Chihiro wakes up to him gently (not-so-gently) waking him up in the morning with knocks at the door (loud bellowing of the school’s anthem), and after getting ready he follows him to the kitchen where they eat the breakfast he made, ensuring they have proper fuel for their morning workout. He also makes them wait until their food digests so it doesn’t come spewing back out over the gym mats like it did on the third day… poor Mondo. Taka ends up learning how to make many vegetarian options for Chihiro to eat, and he’s excited to not eat pasta and ramen like he always does. He learns to cook alongside Taka, so he won’t suffer withdrawal symptoms afterwards. 

  
  


Hiro says he regrets getting involved with them because of the commitment, but Chihiro knows that Hiro enjoys their sessions. Because Taka makes them wait between meals and activity, Chihiro ends up helping Hiro with homework, which takes longer than expected but once Chihiro gets through to him, Hiro works through math problems much faster. Thanks to them, Hiro develops better habits instead of sleeping all day, and maybe his fortunes are looking a little more accurate than before. In turn, Chihiro learns ways to relax and self-soothe when he gets overwhelmed. Hiro keeps pushing him to try his brownies, but Mondo and Leon eat them before Chihiro can try - they end up crying and don’t put in any effort in the gym these days. He blames it on their guilty conscious for eating his brownie. 

Leon ends up breaking the routine up into night and morning increments because they are comatose throughout class if they focus everything in the morning and if they do everything at night... the nurse’s office is closed - just in case Chihiro squats too low with a bar that he cuts his teeth through his lip again (he needed stitches). Mondo’s temper with Leon ebbs out to a casual degree now that they’re spending more time with each other. Chihiro is thankful that they’re no longer at each other’s throats. Mondo and Leon are the ones who exercise with him. They keep watch to see whenever Chihiro looks worn out, and they would switch to an exercise that would isolate a different part of his body. 

He enjoys spending time with all of them. 

On his rest day, instead of spending time alone in his room as he originally thought he would, he finds himself dog-piled by them as they watch a new show on Netflix. Taka is half watching and half moderating the school forums to make sure everyone is following the regulations set in each thread. Little does he know that Leon and Hiro are trading turns to post elicit images under pseudo-accounts until he turns around and sees Hiro post from the same forsaken account that he just blocked.

Afterwards, they quiet down and their eyes are glued to the screen, watching as kids run away from the Russian government and figure out their feelings for each other. Taka is the only one with enough courage to comment about how much he enjoys the romance from the series. Chihiro ends up falling asleep somewhere under Mondo’s armpit and Hiro’s hair, but he doesn’t care because it’s the best sleep he’s gotten since going through with this bizarre idea. 

+++ 

Before physicals, Leon is outside the girls’ lounge with a box of donuts, obviously trying to sabotage the swimmer from performing well. It doesn’t come to fruition because Sakura, despite having Hina glued to the hip all other times, arrives early and alone. She intimates into giving her the box of donuts and has him scampering to the boys’ section with a frown. 

Because of his nerves, Taka ends up reassuring Chihiro up until his name is called and then he proceeds to the examination room. They weigh him and test his stamina. Chihiro does well on his physical test, there was much improvement from before! Plus he gained some weight from all the protein he’s been eating. 

He needs to finish making the gifts for his friends so he can thank them for all their hard work. 

+++

The first day is full of events that are done individually. Chihiro performs adequately, but Sakura and Hina mainly dominate the competition, with exception to a few events where Leon actually snagged the first spot with the other two girls a few points shy from cementing their spots. Chihiro ranks within the top ten which isn’t great, but he’s not in dead last, which he’s grateful because he does have some pretty tough classmates. He ranks over Taka, and Chihiro catches his eye when they see their results post at the end of the day. Taka looks proud. 

The second day is exclusive to team events, and normally, the two best competitors are team captains, but because Hina kept insisting on being on the same team as Sakura, Leon becomes the default captain since he’s ranked third. Leon doesn’t complain because he’d rather choose his own team than getting chosen. The upperclassman explains that the teams chosen here will be the permanent team for the remainder of the events, they must choose wisely. 

“Hina,” Sakura says as soon as Leon steps up to the podium, and Hina leaps up to stand beside her. No surprises there. 

“Mondo,” Of course Leon wants to have more athleticism on his team, otherwise he’d lose. It’s nothing personal, this is a competition at all.

“Mukuro.” 

“Chihiro.” He doesn’t hear Leon call out any of the remaining names. He knows he's smiling way too hard for it to go unnoticed, so Mondo lightly ruffles his hair and offers a thumbs up before he starts bickering with Leon about his decisions. 

By the end of it, Chihiro manages to regain enough of his composure to survey the two teams. On Sakura’s team: Hina, Mukuro, Taka, Makoto, Kirigiri, Junko, and Toko. On Leon’s team: Mondo, Chihiro, Hiro, Sayaka, Hifumi, Celeste, and Byakuya. Their odds don’t look so good. 

+++

Some of the events are similar to the individual events, but most of them count as relays where the responsibility is passed to the next teammate and then the next one and then the next one until they reach the finish line or complete whichever circuit. Those events did not work in their favor… Sakura always leads and has Hina finish their circuits, which makes up for however much slack occurred (hint: Junko and Fukawa) between the first teammate and the last. That being said, Leon’s team is following poorly alongside theirs but they manage. 

Leon’s team starts gaining traction once they move over to more traditional team events. They win in soccer, baseball (for obvious reasons), and volleyball, but maybe because it allowed multiple people to shine at once, and while Sakura has strength and speed to her advantage, she can’t encompass the entire field. Chihiro knows statistically speaking her team has more skill but it’s disproportionate, and they are too headstrong in their own mission to contribute to the team that they have issues communicating with each other. 

On the other hand, Chihiro sees potential the team that Leon formed; they just need a little extra bribing/threats/etc. to cooperate: Byakuya is practically useless unless Mondo personally offers to be his bodyguard for a few weeks to keep Toko at least 10 feet away from him at all times. Celeste pockets a few dollar bills into her socks before each event. Sayaka, despite being Leon’s girlfriend, refuses to try her utmost best unless Leon agrees to feature in a few of her songs as a duet (and he has to match in costume and genre: aka, not to his liking at all). Hiro is fine with the promise of some sweet brownie ingredients afterwards, whatever that means. And for Hifumi, Mondo and Leon have to chip in on some boobied-mousepad that Hifumi has sitting in his Amazon wishlist (everything else made Chihiro want to sanitize his eyes a little). 

Right before the last event, they’re neck in neck for the team events; Chihiro doesn’t look at the scoreboard to confirm the possible tie because it might discourage him a little, and he’d much rather believe that they’re one point away from winning. He uses the break between the event to sit with a sulking Mondo - who isn’t allowed to talk to Taka until after the competitions because Taka doesn’t want to  _ appear like he’s conspiring with the enemy _ . Mondo sulks even more when he sees Sakura and Hina making out in a corner. 

“Why’d you pick him on your team! He and I could be making out too!” Mondo throws his comb at them, but it falls short when Sakura lifts and twirls Hina out of the way. Without pulling her face away from Hina’s, she crouches down to swipe the offending item from the ground and toss it like a dart at Mondo’s offending pompadour. 

“I hope you have better precision in dodgeball.” Sakura’s velvety voice teases before she is cut off by her girlfriend’s selfish mouth. 

+++ 

Dodgeball goes by faster than he anticipates. Celeste and Junko step out of bounds on purpose so they can sit out because getting hit by balls was not high on their list of priorities. Toko is forced off the court when she hurls herself onto the otherside to block balls heading towards her master. Everyone else goes down organically, if they get hit by a ball or if their ball is caught by the opposing team. Leon isn’t cocky enough to try and catch any of the flying balls, he knows the power behind those projectiles - enough to knock someone down completely. He advises everyone to shoot and dodge, no other options. 

There are only three balls on the court, but they whizz past his face like torpedoes, and Chihiro feels bad for whoever’s face connects with it. Leon is blocking Chihiro from sight, and while the sentiment is nice, Chihiro hates that he’s being treated like something that can break easily, so he stealthily slides out from Leon’s shadow - that’s the moment Kirigiri’s been waiting for as a ball darts towards him. Chihiro drops to the ground, missing the projectile by a hair and it collides with Hiro’s hip instead. 

Chihiro tries apologizing, but Leon barks at the smaller boy for wandering away and yanks him back to the safe spot behind him. The bodies dwindle on both sides, and his safety doesn’t last long. Once Sakura manages to get most of the other players off ticked off, she hones her energy on Leon since he has the highest shoot and hit ratio. He’s out the second she lays her eyes on him, but he uses his last few seconds to chuck a ball at Hina and they’re both hauled off the court with bruises, they remove the third ball from the court too.

It’s just Mondo and Chihiro against Sakura and Mukuro, and their side is holding the only two balls left in the match. Chihiro can feel the sweat running cold down his shivering back, and he’s hoping that his nerves aren’t as on display as he feels they are. 

“Come on and forfeit,” Mukuro’s abrasive voice echoes loudly through the court, and Taka is on the sideline still icing his face from one of the balls but he cuts in and says something about how true bros never forfeit. Chihiro can’t really focus on it too much because his eyes are trained on both of his rivals. “There’s no way you could win.” 

“For a coupla girls, you’re really cocky.” Mondo sneers.

“We hold the balls, don’t we?” Sakura lazily rolls the ball over her thick forearms. “Better luck next year,” her smile is wolfish. 

“Stop underestimating us!” Chihiro growls out, even though the ball already left her hand - straight for his face, but Mondo flings his arm out in time to make contact with it first. Mondo is out. 

Chihiro lifts the ball and catapults it at Sakura, but she avoids it easily, stepping instead in Mukuro’s line of fire just as she released the ball. Chihiro has to blink a few times before his brain processes the miscalculation - just as the ball left Mukuro’s hand, Sakura steps in front of it (unknowingly) while avoiding his ball, and it bounces back into Mukuro’s surprised grasp. 

“Mukuro!!” Hina’s whine rings from the sideline, and Sakura chuckles to herself as she steps off to join the others. 

It’s just Mukuro and Chihiro, and he’s not stupid enough to try and reach for the rolling ball on his side of the court while there’s a ball ready in her hands.

“I’m surprised that the bunny survived this long.” She cocks her head to the side to survey him, and he keeps himself from grinding his teeth because wow, how rude. 

“I’m surprised that you messed up and hit a teammate.” Chihiro mocks, summoning enough sarcasm in his voice to make her eye twitch. 

“I won’t make another mistake.” She hurls the ball at him, but he leaps out of the way in time. The ball ricochets off the back wall and springs back, Mukuro catches it. This repeats for a while, Chihiro jumping and sprinting around his available space while the ball bounces off the back wall and returns to its sender. It’s just a series of squeaky sneakers, Mukuro’s aggravation, slaps from the ball, and Leon’s taunting from the sidelines.

“Stop hopping around!!” She screeches, catching the ball once it bounces back. 

“Chihiro is our ace in the hole!” Hiro shouts, and Chihiro's head swivels slightly towards his praise, he smiles. But when he makes eye contact with his teammates, they look horror-stricken.

He turns his head too late, and instead of bolting, his instincts drown out the appropriate response and he crouches down instead. “FUCK!” Chihiro shouts because changing his course of action won’t change the results, already throwing his hands over his face as a shield from the impending doom. 

He feels the weight of the ball sting his palms and he feels himself skid ever so slightly on the polished floor. He doesn’t feel anything beyond that, just his panicked breathing inflating and deflating his chest. He closes his eyes and doesn’t move out of fear of falling over.

“Did you hear him curse, bro? Who taught him that word?” A voice cuts through the static that’s accumulated in his ears. 

“Bro, that’s what you’re paying attention to? Our boy won!” Another voice says.

He looks up, and surely, the ball is stationed in his hands. An angry looking Mukuro is blanched across from him, staring with disbelief. He caught the ball… 

“CHIHIRO WON!!!” Mondo hollers, pushing and lightly kicking the people from the front row out of his way as he rushes to meet Chihiro on the court. 

“Chihiroooo!!” Leon tramples after Mondo, and Taka and Hiro are not far behind. They shout and cheer as they lift Chihiro off the floor and thrust him up in the air and carry him on their shoulders like a king. 

Taka, being the shortest of the four on the ground, scoots himself out of the huddle and takes a picture of them, Chihiro looking sheepish up there from all of the attention. 

“You need to be in it too Taka!” Chihiro demands, and Taka angles himself and the camera so that they’re all in the photo. 

“Buff boys on three!” Mondo calls off. 

“Buff boys, buff boys, buff boys!!” They all scream, faces gleaming and cracked open with proud smiles. 

+++ 

There’s a pool party after the awards ceremony. Apparently, the dodgeball match was the tie-breaker between the two teams and Chihiro brought the team to victory. Not only did they each get a medal for being on the winning team, but Chihiro got an additional medal for being the last one standing in the tournament. 

“Look at our big shot.” Mondo takes another photo of Chihiro with his big medals hanging from his neck. 

“No more pictures please.” Chihiro covers his eyes with his sunglasses and in his best Mariah Carey impression, he looks away and pretends not to know him. 

Taka approaches them, covered in an obscenely thick layer of sunscreen. “I wanted to let you all know that I will no longer make your meals since the intensive workouts are no longer in effect.” 

Mondo gathers him a hug and pulls him flush against his chest, “You did more than enough. Thanks, bro.” He tries kissing him, but Taka resists and his reddening face flowers through the sunscreen. 

“PDA is strictly forbidden in the pool areas.” He counters, and then picks up a large-brimmed sun-hat, “Now you can’t get close to me without tipping my hat.” Mondo rolls his eyes and drops himself onto a lawn chair beside Hiro, who startles awake from the sudden presence beside him.

“We  _ just  _ competed, you really can’t let me sleep!?” Hiro adjusts his sunglasses to glare at Mondo, and then turns over onto his side, pulling a towel to cover his upper body. 

“I thought you wanted your ingredients first or did you forget?” Leon sips lazily at his dressed-up virgin pina-colada; he fishes out a bag of what looks like oregano from his duffel bag and hands it off to the now awake Hiro.

Taka looks between Leon and Hiro suspiciously and then looks to Mondo to confirm whether or not he should be suspicious. Mondo smiles and waves it off, so Taka goes back to just observing his classmates from a distance, hoping people won’t spike the drinks nor run around the pool. Chihiro guesses that he caught something when Taka marches after Junko. 

“Ohmigod! Leon got these donuts for  _ me? _ ” Hina’s voice cuts through the party, and Sakura is in the distance presenting the donut box to her. The donuts that Leon tried to incapacitate Hina for a little bit while she was bloated and full of sugar. Hina waves at Leon as a show of thanks, and in turn he sends a thumbs up.

Chihiro hears him curse when Sayaka sashays her wave over, looking partially angry. “Don’t I get a treat too?” 

“I swear, it was in the name of sabotage!” 

“I have some treats if you wanna check my inventory.” Hiro’s voice pipes up, and with the towel as a cape, he sweeps her away to show her his homemade brownies. Leon laughs to himself because no way in hell will Sayaka go for that, but he wants to finish his pina-colada first before he goes after them. He takes a seat beside Chihiro, and they sit like that for a little bit. 

“Good job again.” Chihiro isn’t sure which one says it, but it doesn’t matter which one because they all earned it really. He smiles when he grasps both of their hands, one on either side of him. 

“It’s all thanks to the Buff Boys.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was also supposed to be a short chapter but... idk what happened. I just really like Chihiro. I wanted to write him just interacting with Leon and Mondo because in the game they had that photo together, and I was gonna have them be the Buff Bois, but Hiro and Taka came into the picture. and i liked it like that. then Sakura was in here too and i was like queen yyyaaaas. So idk what happened. I tried not to drone on too much, hope you guys liked it!


End file.
